


Captain's Orders

by Almyrah



Series: A Journey Worth Taking [1]
Category: The Orville (TV)
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns, POV Second Person, Rated T for language, Reader-Insert, feel free to replace they/them with your own pronouns, the Reader doesn't really have a gender but is referred to using they/them pronouns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-26 17:51:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17750639
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Almyrah/pseuds/Almyrah
Summary: As Captain Ed Mercer and Commander Kelly Grayson reached the simulators, they composed themselves to congratulate the unknown member of their crew for completing a portion of the command test.They didn’t expect you to walk out.A reader-insert story that I may or may not turn into a series





	Captain's Orders

**Author's Note:**

> This is a reader-insert story where the reader is referred to twice using they/them pronouns but like I said in the tags there's no mention of the reader's gender so it can be read by anyone so just insert your own! This is the first story I've written for the Orville or any Star Trek-like show. 
> 
> Should I have written this with two other stories needing updating, no. Did I? Hell yeah.
> 
> (F/N)=first name (L/N)=last name. ya know, the standard

Captain Ed Mercer was finishing the last of his reports when he had received a notification on his computer. He casually glanced at it, then he looked again. “Oh, shit.” He hurried out of his office and almost crashed into his XO.

“You got the notification?” Kelly asked as they both rushed towards the environmental simulator.

“Yeah,” Ed said, “I wasn’t aware that anyone on the ship was interested in taking the command test.”

“Gordon told me he was interested, but I thought he completed the simulation portion.”

“So, we have no idea who just completed the hardest part of the command test.” As they reached the simulators, they composed themselves to congratulate the unknown member of their crew.

They didn’t expect you to walk out.

“Ensign (L/N)?” Kelly asked while Ed just gaped at you.

You were equally confused. “Captain Mercer, Commander Grayson, is something wrong?”

Ed regained his composure. “Ensign (L/N), do you know what simulation you just ran?”

“Um, no,” you replied sheepishly, “I asked the simulators to run a random public simulation. I couldn’t decide what simulation to do while I was off-duty.” You started to panic. “Was I not supposed to have access to that simulation.”

“Not really, no,” Ed muttered.

“Ensign,” Kelly explained, “you just ran the simulation portion of the Shipmaster Qualification Program and _passed_.”

“What? You’ve got to be joking, sirs. Did Lt. Commander LaMarr put you up to this?”

“(F/N), we’re being serious,” Ed said, “You passed a portion of the command test.”

“Oh,” you said, mulling over the new information and internally panicking, “In that case, I’m sorry for causing a disturbance, sirs.”

Both the captain and the commander stared at you incredulously. “Wait, you’re sorry,” Kelly asked, “what for?”

You focused on keeping a calm exterior. “I’m only an ensign, sir, I can’t be a lieutenant commander without becoming a lieutenant first. Not that I’d want to be a lieutenant commander,” you quickly added.

This time Kelly was speechless. “Ensign, when does your shift start?” Ed asked.

“A few hours, sir.”

“Why don’t you head down to sick bay. Captain’s orders.”

“I will, sir. Captain, Commander.” You said before heading down to sick bay.

“Who saw that coming?” Ed asked once you were out of sight.

“I sure didn’t,” Kelly said, “Hey, did (F/N) seem reluctant to be a commander?”

Ed nodded and pulled out his comm. “I’m going to tell Dr. Finn to perform the psychological and medical exams without telling Ensign (L/N). I’m sure they just need a push.”

* * *

 

You felt the tension leave your body after you left the simulator, relieved that the captain and the commander had allowed you to leave with minimum conversation about being a commander. You didn’t want any commanding position, you weren’t ready to skip a few ranks to become a lieutenant commander. That kind of position was terrifying to you and you would have never even set foot in that simulation if you had known.

That was another thing! You just wanted to pass some time with a randomly-chosen public simulation. How were you supposed to know that the simulators would generate the Shipmaster Qualification simulation? The fact that the command test was available to ensigns was truly a terrible design flaw, so really, you mused, the blame falls on the simulator. You thought that maybe you could claim that there was a glitch in the simulators and claim that that was why you passed, but something told you that wasn’t the case.

You pushed away that train of thought to focus again on your relief that Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson didn’t seem like they would bring up the test again.

When you arrived at sick bay, you were surprised to find Dr. Finn waiting for you. “(F/N). Please have a seat. The next few examinations she performed you were familiar with. You had gone through multiple medical exams to get through the academy and then some more to serve active duty on the Orville, which was the first ship you had ever served on. However, you were confused when Dr. Finn had you follow her into her office.

“Please, have a seat,” Claire said, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. You sat, tense. “Now, I’m going to show you a series of shapes, and I want you to tell me what you see in the shapes.” The exercise didn’t take long, and when you had finished, Dr. Finn seemed satisfied. You exhaled and felt the tension leave your body.

Claire smiled. “You’re free to go.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” you said, standing to leave. When you opened Dr. Finn’s door, you almost crashed into Lieutenant Malloy. “Sorry.”

“Nah, don’t worry about it.” Gordon looked over your shoulder to see the last inkblot still being projected on Dr. Finn’s desk. “Oh, you’re taking the command test to?” he said, “We should study together.” His eyes widened. “We could be study buddies!”

You felt annoyance and frustration rage inside of you, so much so that you focused on not snapping at the lieutenant. He wasn’t the one you were upset with. “I’ll have to see,” you said, forcing your face to be calm and your words not to be clipped, “I don’t even know if I passed this,” you gestured vaguely at Dr. Finn, “part of the test, yet.”

“Actually,” Dr. Finn piped up from behind you, “you passed this section with flying colors.”

You counted backwards from ten. Eventually you focused back on Lieutenant Malloy. “I’ll have to think about it,” you said before managing to squeeze yourself past him and headed straight to your quarters to try and calm down before your shift.

* * *

 

You were getting ready for the shift down in engineering, your orange uniform jacket casually unzipped, showing the black t-shirt underneath, as you slid on your shoes. You were about to zip up your jacket when your door chimed. You walked up to the door and opened it, finding Ed Mercer standing in your doorway.

“Captain,” you said, trying to keep your frustration with him from showing on your face, “how can I help you?”

“Ensign (L/N)! Actually, I was hoping you could help me with some paperwork.”

You nodded, accepting the tablet. You glanced at it quickly to find that it’s not paperwork. “Sir, this looks like course work more than paperwork.”

“Wow, that’s odd.” You looked back sown at the tablet, three words catching your attention. The annoyance at your captain flares. “Captain Mercer, is this for the command test?”

Ed laughed awkwardly. “No, of course not.”

“It says ‘Shipmaster Qualification Test’ at the top.” He sighed.

“Look, would you just do it.”

You regretted the next words that come out of your mouth. “I don’t know, sir, is it captain’s orders?”

“Ensign!” Ed scolded.

Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck FUCK! “Ohmygod, Captain, I’m so sorry. I—”

He cut you off. “I want you to stop by my office after your shift,” he said, sternly.

“Yes, sir,” you muttered, focusing on your shoes. He leaves and you’re screwed.

* * *

 

You tried and failed to focus on your work down in engineering. You purposefully worked slower than you normally do to prevent a fatal mistake from occurring while your mind drifted to the meeting with Ed after your shift. The last thing you wanted was to be the focus of anyone’s attention. Unfortunately, John had noticed your slower pace.

“Ensign (L/N), you’ve been working on that spatial manifold for the past hour. Is something wrong?” You had been glad when John had been promoted instead of Yaphit. Yaphit knew his stuff, but empathy definitely wasn’t one of his strong points.

“No, Lieutenant Commander LaMarr, I’m just distracted.” You quickly backtracked, “Not that that’s an excuse, sir.”

John’s composure softened. “What happened?” You sigh, secretly relieved to have someone to talk to about the unexpected turn your day had taken.

“Well, long story short, I snapped at Captain Mercer.” Everyone in engineering gasped. You looked up to find all the engineers staring at you and Lt. Commander LaMarr.

“You didn’t!” Dann exclaimed, as if it was the juiciest gossip he had ever heard in his life.

“Good for you, Kid,” Yaphit said, “I didn’t realize you had the balls.” You glared at your coworkers, but they continue to focus on you. “Is there a particular reason that you snapped at the captain, or did you do it for fun?”

You sighed again, realizing that all of engineering will eventually hear your story, if not the entire ship. “Captain Mercer and Commander Grayson have been pushing for me to get a promotion and even taking some steps behind my back to get it to happen after I’ve specifically said that I didn’t want it.” You chuckled. “I snapped when I realized that they thought they were being subtle.”

“So, I’m guessing the reason you don’t want this promotion is very personal,” John asked. You nodded. “Just tell them your tragic backstory.”

“You think that if I do explain it, they’ll drop it, sir?”

“Well it’s that or they’ll point out every reason why you deserve the promotion to the point that you feel like you deserve it.” He turned his attention to the stationary engineers that are still listening to your conversation. “Entertainment’s over. If the Orville explodes and we all die, I’m gonna hold each and everyone of you personally responsible.”

* * *

 

You rushed to Captain Mercer’s office after your shift. You had practiced how to explain your backstory for most of your shift after Lt. Commander LaMarr and the entirety of engineering listened to your problems. You pressed the chime on his door as soon as you reach his office. The door whooshed open and you walked into Ed’s office, ready to give a speech.

“Captain, I want to apologize for snapping at you earlier and explain why I’m opposed to becoming a commander.” You noticed that he’s not as pissed off as you had expected him to be.

“That won’t be necessary, ensign,” he interrupted.

You faltered. “It…it isn’t? I kinda had this whole speech planned,” you explained awkwardly.

“Oh.” He paused. “Well, do you still want to do it?”

You nodded your head. “Very much, sir.”

“Well then, whenever you’re ready, (F/N).”

You take a deep breath and start the speech you had practiced in front of the engineering computer screens. “When I graduated from union point, I was assigned a position on the USS Earhart.”

“The Orville’s sister-ship?”

You nodded again and continued. “It was just days before it was supposed to dock in earth’s orbit so the graduated cadets could go aboard that, as you know, it was destroyed by an unknown spatial anomaly.”

“Well that’s certainly jarring but doesn’t explain your reluctance to become a commander.”

You took a moment to compose yourself. “The Earhart’s captain and XO had taken some shore leave when they discovered the anomaly. The second officer was the acting captain when the anomaly started to destroy the ship. She was the one who stayed on the ship as the rest of the crew escaped using the shuttles and was the only one who didn’t make it back home.” You paused and Mercer was silent, so you explained, “Sir, the second officer was my aunt.”

Ed hissed in sympathy. “I’m sorry, (F/N).”

“Don’t be you weren’t the cause of the anomaly.”

“I understand that you don’t want to become a lieutenant commander and I promise both myself and Commander Grayson will stop pushing for you to take the Shipmaster Qualification Program _on the condition_ that you will think about it later in your career,” Captain Mercer explained, “you’d make an excellent commander.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“That being said,” he focused his attention to the file, your file, on his screen, “I found some interesting details on your record when I went to place a formal reprimand in your file—" You flinched having temporarily forgotten why you were in his office in the first place. “—and it says here that you were voted best navigator by your class in Union Point.”

“Sir, everyone knows those are just popularity contests, they’re not to be taken seriously—"

“It also says that you’re a level-six helmsman?”

“It’s super easy to become a level-six helmsman these days, sir—"

“And you had one of the highest scores on the standardized navigation exam ever in Union Point history.”

“I cheated!” you blurt out.

Captain Mercer paused and raised an eyebrow. “…You cheated?” 

“Yes sir.”

The captain leaned back, smug. “Could you explain exactly how you cheated?”

You hadn’t cheated back then, and now you struggled to come up with a plausible way of cheating.  “I, uh, studied, sir.” you explained lamely. You couldn’t help but wince at your pathetic excuse.

“Ensign, that’s not cheating.” He sighed again. You noticed that he does that a lot around you. “Ensign, I’m looking for a permanent replacement for Lt. Commander Lamarr’s previous position as navigator on the bridge during the main shift. Would you be interested?”

You ignored the way your heart sped up in your chest at the idea of getting what was once your dream position in the Union. You cleared your throat. “I would, Captain.”

“Well then, the position is yours.” Ed said, smiling, as he stood up from his desk and stuck out his hand “Lieutenant (L/N).”

A giddy smile crept up on your face despite your prior hesitations. “Thank you, Captain Mercer.”

* * *

 

You arrived at the bridge 15 minutes before your shift begins the next day to find all the senior officers, including Dr. Finn, already there. You faltered at the entrance. “I’m sorry,” you said to no one in particular, “am I late?”

Captain Mercer stood up and you hurried to move to the center of the bridge. “Not at all. We just wanted to congratulate you on your promotion before the beginning of the shift.” Ed shook your hand again, as did Kelly, Bortus, and Talla. From what you heard, almost everyone knew what had led to your promotion the day before, although no one was sure who had started the idea as a rumor.

“Congratulations, Lieutenant (L/N),” Isaac said without moving from his seat.

John clapped a hand on your shoulder, beaming. “See, I told you it would work!”

You smiled back with as much enthusiasm. “Honestly, sir, that was some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten in my career. Thank you.”

You approached Dr. Finn, your guilt showing on your face. “I want to apologize for storming out of your office yesterday. It was extremely unprofessional.”

“Apology accepted,” she said, “your frustration was completely understandable, and I probably would’ve done the same thing had I been in your shoes.”

“Really?” you asked, disbelieving.

“Well, in your shoes and with 20 years less experience. Congratulations, Lieutenant.”

You thanked Claire and headed to your position on the bridge in front of the navigation panel. You stared in awe at the screen. Space never failed to look beautiful and unique to you. Gordon nudged you, getting your attention, and you turned to face him.

“Hey, Study Buddy,” he said, warmly, “congratulations.” You grinned back at him, feeling gratified with your new position on the Orville and fully accepted by her crew.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this I'm open to requests for other reader-insert Orville fics, either a continuation where you're the navigator or completely different. I'm also open to the reader being paired with any character that is requested. Any gender, any species. You wanna fuck Yaphit? Hell yeah you can fuck Yaphit (disclaimer: I've never written a sex scene in my life so it might not be of the same quality as the rest of the fic) Also you can ask for a specific gender for the reader as well. Basically I'm open to writing whatever you want. Comment below or message me at my tumblr: lunacornfan2k19


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